From the Psychotic to the Sublime

The Lake Waikaremoana Track

Day 2, Page 3

We are dropping fast into lush and varied bush

We still have the occasional tree root ladder to deal with, but this side of the hut has no problems meeting Great Walk standards, not going down, anyway. Anyone coming the other way might have a rough hour or so on the steep section, but it's physically, not emotionally, demanding and it doesn't take all day.

Nettle soup anyone... These are not the dreaded ongaonga. I'm not sure whether they are a the same as the garden weed or a native species. They can still bite, as Miranda found out last year on the Greenstone Track, but only for a few hours.

There are great banks full of Crown Fern, and the undergrowth on either side seems to be opening up a bit.

Still going down but beginning to ease off a little. I just cannot believe this track after yesterday's horrors.

I slow a little and pick my way through a rocky bit. Miranda has headed on down at speed with instructions to keep an eye open for a sunny patch for lunch.

The light coming through the trees is wonderful, not at all the gloom that pervaded much of yesterdays walk.

and lunch.

Not only sunny but a whole bunch of friendly beech roots to sit on.

Crackers and cheese and beer sticks, and thermos tea and Miranda's nectarine fruit leather for afters. Not a sound except birds singing and crackers disappearing.

Packs on again, and off we go. More of the same really, but I'm not complaining. A few more tree roots, to be sure.

Now we're starting to ease off a bit.

Bog again. maximum about 150 deep, but it's worth trying to keep boots dry. Socks that get wet get really foul and aren't at all inviting if you want to make each pair last several days.

The moss is luxuriant, and down to the left of the pic are a few small filmy ferns.

We pass the base of another giant. There's something fragile-seeming by contrast about the seedlings that shelter here, but truth be told I've seen more fallen beech trees than fallen seedlings.